Sure “English” has many variants, right? I mean, there’s US English, UK English, Australian English, New Zealand English, and so on; however, we all use the same 26 letters, right? And with a few exceptions (£ vs $, etc…) one would think keyboards could be the same, right? One would think that there is a single English keyboard with some minor variants. Oh no. Take a look at the following image (note, the labels are mislabeled. The top one is the UK keyboard)
I can count five differences without thinking:
- The @ is moved to where the ” lives on a US keyboard (and vice versa).
- The enter key is larger
- the \ and | key is moved next to the Z and left shift key.
- The left shift key is smaller
- There’s a goofy double intertwined S where the ~ key was
The differences aren’t just in adding the Euro symbol, etc… There’s more to it. Does anyone know why there is such a difference between US and UK keyboards?
[Update 2014-01-21 07:44:54] For more information (and differences) check out the Wikipedia entry for US and UK keyboards
Image from silvertd via flickr